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Firstly, I’d like to thank my good friend Dan Putt for making a donation last week , as well as everyone else who pledged to help in other ways. My heart goes out to all of you — Love you guys!! Thanks so much with all of my heart.

For the past few days I’ve been up in a tree (down now) named Keyandoor, about 130 ft in the air. My first few weeks out here were comprised of organizing and hiking THPs (Timber Harvest Plans), which are the areas that are designated to be clear-cut (wiped clean. murdered. eradicated!) And I’m still doing that for the most part.

However, last week I finally learned to climb and went up for a few days to protect this lovely ancient old-growth Redwood being. What an honor! What a privilege to help protect this tree. I love that tree so much as well as the rest that we’re working hard to keep standing.

Living is a tree is pretty awesome, actually. I’m usually scared of heights, but for some reason I really wasn’t too scared at all. I felt pretty confident and comfortable while climbing up, living there, and coming down.

I asked Keyandoor to protect me and she did. Thanks Keyandoor! I slept on a webbed bed called a Dreamcatcher made out over thin, but very, very strong rope. Flying squirrels that are super friendly came to visit me every night — I could even pet them!

Wow, there’s so much going on right now. I’ll be spending my time between the forest and town camp spot. Last night I drove with some forest defenders about an hour south to do a resupply, which is bringing other tree-sitters food and water, then carry out their garbage. Got back around 4AM. A bit tired mentally and physically, but I’m going strong!

More updates to come… here are some pics.

Peace and Love!

Hey MindPetalers,

I’ve been out here is Northern California, Humboldt County, for 4 weeks now. As you saw from my video, I came up here to help save and protect our Ancient Forests which are currently threatened by greedy corporations who only speak one language: Money.

It’s been fun. Intense. Rough. Exhilarating. And a an immense learning experience thus far. I wish I could name names, but the people I have linked up with are absolutely awesome. We have formed what is known as an Affinity Group, which is essentially a group without any hierarchy… each person being the leader of their own campaigns, but uniting together to make decisions through a consensus process.

I’ve been busy since the moment I arrived — organizing, intense hiking into private land to locate old-growth trees (hundreds to thousands of years old), reaching out to the community of Arcata, and fundraising among other things.

It’s amazing — and shocking — to see how much support we get from the community up here. People seem to truly love and respect Forest Defenders. I hear things such as: “Keep on doing what you’re doing” “Thank you so much for protecting the trees” “You guys rock!” “I really respect what you guys are doing, please don’t stop. We support you” “What can I do to help” etc… These responses fuel what we do on a daily basis and make sure to keep us sharp and motivated.

Wow… there’s such much to say. I’ve been meeting all sorts of people out here. People from all over the world who pass through this area. If I was to define the overall vibe I get from the community out here, it would be: Happy. People do a lot of smiling and saying hello out here. This is such a nice break from the cut-throat mentality of NYC. Just the other day I extended my hand to say hello to someone and they rejected my hand and came in for a huge, long, warm hug. And I said to myself: “wow, this is truly the fundamental difference between places like this and other parts of the US where people aren’t so friendly.” Don’t get me wrong, there will be nasty and unfriendly people wherever you go, no doubt, but I’ve never been to a place where there’s such a high concentration of love and peace such as this. And I’m honored to be a part of that love.

Ok! So…. yup, we’ve been busy. Mostly organizing and getting shit straightened out and in motion — getting the ball rollin’! We’ve had several informational gatherings and are preparing for an action camp where people will learn things such as tree-climbing, backwoods training (how to get through the woods safely, set up camps, shitting in the woods, hiding in the woods, tracking, etc..), how to resupply tree-sitters, et al. things such as that.

I’ve been doing a lot of writing as well. Wow, I’ve had so many new and wonderful thoughts since being here. Inheriting a new spirit of the woods. A new spirit of nature. I’ve seen bears, foxes, snakes, deer, coyote, and just the other day a rare and endangered Spotted Owl granted me the privilege of walking within 3 feet of it without flying away — what an experience!

Well, thanks for tuning in. I’ll try to keep you all posted. Please send your positive energy and love our way. I have full confidence in what were are doing and trees / animals will be saved in our actions. Actions that I can’t go into full detail, but suffice it to say, actions to keep Mother Nature alive and growing. Non-violent, loving actions

The ancient trees that I’m doing all I can to protect out here really need our help. Old-Growth trees range from 200 - 3000 years old. They are the largest living organisms in the world. They offer habitat to millions of various animals, some of which are going extinct: Northern Spotted Owl, Red Vole, Salamanders, and others… My affinity group and I have been building Tree-Sits (for people to live in the trees to get in between the chainsaws and the trees), making flyers and organizing events to spread awareness, and going on recon missions to survey the private timer lands to locate and protect old-growth trees.

A few things that can really help us:

• climbing rope
• any sort of climbing equipment
• wool clothing
• synthetic clothing
• food (dry)
• letters (write us!)
• money
• love

Unfortunately, all of this costs money. If you would like to help us protect these Ancient Forests and the animals that call those places a home, please make a paypal donation
[payment@mindpetals.org ]. Or head on over to Humboldt County, California and join our movement in the Defense of Mother Earth. Anyone can help in a myriad of ways. You can help by offering your passions to us and doing whatever you love doing in a way that can help protect the trees. Find a way to help — look into your heart and you’ll know what to do.

Love and Peace,
Dave

A third option is to pay the printing company to do the design work for you. There are two advantages to this option; the first is you keep the entire job in the same hands from the creation of your business logo to the final printing of the marketing products. You also get the benefit of the extensive design experience at the printing company–you won’t wind up with a logo you must revise because the colors, size or design is incompatible with your printing project requirements.

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The one thing many logo creators can’t do in the early stages of the logo design process is predict how the image will look when it is actually printed on a t-shirt. It’s one thing to take the logo and superimpose it over a digital picture of a t-shirt; it’s another thing altogether to actually print the logo on a tshirt and see how it catches your eye.

The good news–there is a way to test your logo with t-shirt printing that doesn’t involve a trip to the printing press. Are you trying to get an idea of what the logo should look like on the t-shirt before paying for a full print run? Purchase some inkjet or laser printer t-shirt transfer paper and print out your logo. Iron these transfers onto a tshirt and you will get a look at your business logo as it will appear in that size on a t-shirt or baseball cap. If the fonts are too small, you can tell right away. If the logo design is clunky or doesn’t quite work, it will be much easier to tell when you see it actually printed on the t-shirt.

Till now man has been up against Nature; from now on he will be up against his own nature.

~Dennis Gabor, Inventing the Future, 1964

And with those words, David is off to California. Is this the end? No more posts from our beloved friend? Simply … no. Stay tuned.

Things are really starting to heat up over there. The sitters have been up there for 565 days and counting! This is the longest urban tree-sit in history, without a doubt.

Just yesterday, UC Police began cutting down the sitter’s safety lines and traverse lines, as well as their gear that ensures their safety up in the trees. Police (”deputized” tree extractors) used extremely excessive force to the sitter “Millipede” yesterday, as they repeatedly rammed into her with a metal lift. Asa said “that she was punched in the face as well.”

Less than an hour ago I received this action alert email:

“Tree-Sitters request supporters come to grove! UC Police are stepping up their assault on Oak Grove Tree-Sit. More cops and a massive 8 story crane have just arrived at the grove.

Meanwhile the decision in the court case is due anytime in the next few hours.

Come to the grove, today is the day!”

So please, if you’re in the Berkeley area and / or have friends in that area, go support the sitters who need all the help that they can receive — now more than ever. Right now, as I write this, police are loading up cranes and terrorizing non-violent sitters who are only trying to protect these ancient trees that have been here long before any of us.

I look at the mulberry seedlings that I recently planted. I look at the beautiful purple cornflower that I planted a few hours ago. I look at the dogwood and the maple tree. I look at the bamboo towering over the fence. I look at the sea of wildflower seedlings that cover the soil like a warm winter blanket of life. I see the row of peas along the north fence and the strawberries along the south fence.

I see all these things — these growing and flourishing plants — and I remember to just a few months back when this piece of land was nothing even close to resembling a fine garden which it is today. Once choked with weeds, laden with dead longs, and smothered with feet of hay, this garden is now vibrant with green lush foliage, a path with 12 round walking stones, and even a few halved coconut shells filled with seeds for the birds.

I see this garden as a symbol depicting my partnership with nature. I helped nature by watering her seedlings on dry days and protecting her seeds from weeds and insects.

Does not the bird help nature by passing her seeds through her waste matter over a field? Does not the cow help nature by fertilizing the grass with her manure? Does not the worm help nature by keeping her soil porous and full of oxygen?

What can man say for his contribution to helping nature? We spend time clearing fields to grow crops for US. We clear-cut ancient forests to sell for wood to make US rich. We cut the lawn to look nice and neat so the neighbors may envy US. We grow the apple tree to pick apples for US. We water the flower to keep it in bloom for US.

Why must it always be about “US” when embarking on a relationship with nature? Can we not do things to help protect, conserve, and preserve nature solely because of the good of it? Why must dollar and cent signs appear in our minds when thinking about nature? Why must we constantly strive to conquer and control nature instead of letting nature be? Why can’t we live in harmony with plants and the animals, just as the bird does?

Do we not understand that from nature, we exist?

Can we not make this simple connection — this fact of life?

No matter how much we abuse nature — cutting her down, selling her off, and raping and pillaging her land, she never gives up on us; she never gives up on life. Cut a forest down, and in a few hundred years it’ll be back thicker than ever. Mow your lawn and let it be for a week, and it’s back. Cut the apple tree, leaving the base of the trunk, come back in a year and see the cage of vertical branches surrounding and protecting the felled trunk.

But not all of nature is so resilient to our human wrath! Kill a species of trees from the noxious practice of unsustainable logging of old-growth forests, and those trees are gone forever! Chop down and uproot all the pine trees in your yard, and don’t expect to see them returning.

So the question is: Is there a balance? Where does man draw the line between working with nature and taking advantage of nature? I believe that I ask this question in vein and any answer will futile at best. To even ask such a question means that we’ve already crossed that line a long, long time ago.

We are no longer stewards of nature, but rather stealers of nature. We steal with great impunity and zeal for financial gains. Blindly raping our very mothers which enabled is to live on this fecund planet.

I fear that one day nature will finally say “enough is enough!” and turn her back on us as we have done unto her. Our planet can live without humans, but it can’t live without ants. So who do you think nature would rather protect if given the choice.

And we, silly humans, think that we are running the show? Ha! Not even close.

First understand this: Life has no opposite. That
which is considered death is a miscalculation in one’s
understanding of life. The consideration one has of
death is a superficial perspective of what life truly
is. The notion that when one ‘leaves’ his body he is
dead is an unsophisticated, immature understanding of
the life processes.

Life has no end, no opposite. When an individual
identifies himself by his physical body he ensures
many problems for himself. This type of self
identification leads one to think in terms of ‘life
and death.’ When one identifies himself on the simple
plane of physical existence then he may properly be
considered ‘dead.’ Even so this ‘death’ is still life.

The physical body of man is similar to a blank
Microsoft Word document? The document has the
potential to be animated by focused thought. It may be
used as a template to vector ALL manor of ideas.

The Word document has no life of it’s own. It is the
ideas which animate the page that is the force of
life. To the effect one animates the page is
indication of the gradient of life force of the said
person OR energy.

Not all of us are people! If we identify each other by
the the physical body of man we may say, “Yes that is
a human. There are two Legs, two arms and a head.”
No… that is just the template. In-fact that may NOT
be a person. It may be any number of universal
energies simply using the physical body as a template
to vector an idea.

When this is clearly understood it becomes clear that
MAN is God. He is also the Devil. In-fact he is All.
When born to the planet he has the potential to exist
as Anything.

To come full circle… there is no such thing as death
as it has been commonly understood. The only death is
not knowing what you are, and what you can be. Also
getting caught up in something you are not.

This is one of the most simplest and most fundamental
truths which all children know intrinsically. If this
idea is not nurtured, then soon after being born to
this planet they loose the reality of this truth and
succumb to an inferior ’shape’ of what they
potentially would of became if the idea WAS properly
nurtured.

Children are the best part because they are most
tightly connected to Everything. The only way to be a
well ‘Tuned-In’ adult is to maintain the metaphysical
nervous system of a child.

Peace!

A few weeks back on April 29th, we had a Mind Petals Gathering at the Gramstand Cafe in the East Village. The night was focused primarily on plastic bag pollution, as I gave a discussion on the pollution / death factors of plastic bags.

We had some powerful discussion from everyone that attended. The night was definitely a success as those present gave feedback about pollution and shared their views on how to lower their pollution impact on the environment.

We also touched upon issues such as oil, biofuels, the role of capitalism on the environment, green businesses, spirituality, nature, and future plans of actions to help spread awareness and get people involved in our movement.

Last Saturday Mind Petaler, Corrina, and I set off to the Union Square section of the city to spread the awareness with flyers, one-on-one discussions with people, and, yes, me with my big-ass sign that said “PLASTIC BAGS KILL.”

We spent about 3 hours campaigning. I’d say that 7 out of 10 people were really receptive, amenable, and open to learning about the plastic bag issue. Some people even wanted to collaborate with us for future events / fund raisers. Others offered ideas, insights, and solutions into the issue of plastic bag pollution.

BUT… of course, there were those 3 out of 10 people who were absolutely pissed off about what we were doing. Some people even got physical!!! Can you believe that? We were yelled at. Cursed at. And berated from time to time. But, I couldn’t say I didn’t expect that.

When people come together and speak out passionately and, perhaps, aggressively against the status-quo… well, that rubs people the wrong way and they feel threatened. Trying to do everything in their power to keep you in the sheep herd, people will try and bring you back down to their ignorant level of bliss.

Our mission for the day was definitely accomplished, as many people declared that they would no longer use plastic bags and opt to purchase / use reusable bags. Those people made my day!

For those of you who want to get involved, please signup to our Action Alert newsletter.

Upon landing, the crow was immediately harassed and attacked by about a dozen other birds, perhaps more. The group of birds worked together as one as they screamed and circled the crow, forcing her from one tree to another until they were at the end of my street where I could no longer view the spectacle.

For some reason, the crow was deemed a threat and the birds worked together quite effectively to remove the threat. It’s amazing to see how animals work together to achieve goals. It seems as though they never give up and push on with great vigor and energy.

I compare those traits to my fellow humans and I easily see how most men never exude such determination and will, but surrender at the slightest obstacle or face of opposition.

Only a few. Only a few act such as the birds do, and push on no matter what — working together with other warriors in concert and unison to achieve seemingly insurmountable aims.